Had my first " your skin looks amazing" comment-- THANK YOU Caroline Hirons!

[bigbuttons]

A colleague said this at work today, I was so chuffed.
I'm 47 and was looking not so good. This last month I have invested in serums, acids and what not have gone back to Caroline Hirons properly this time. I have been religiously cleaning and tending to my face AM and PM. I use a 30% glycol peel every couple of weeks and use tretinoin every 3 days.
I must say even I have noticed a difference, it has knocked years off me.
All blemishes gone, skin is ultra smooth, wrinkles reduced.
There is hope for us more (ahem) mature ladies!

Quick question. Just bought liquid gold, do you leave it on overnight every time you use it?

Forget that question I'm getting confused with a peel I just got as well I'm being stupid!

U2 - yes. It goes on as your last stage. Cleanse & dry skin, put the liquid gold on with a cotton disc and that's it. No serum, no moisturiser. Nothing.

Cleanse etc as normal in the morning. Make sure you use SPF though as you'll be more prone to hyper-pigmentation after using LG (or any glycolic).

Thank you. Now I need to buy a SPF as I ran out a while ago. I've spent far too much money today! IF it helps with acne and scars it will be worth it though.

I've had to give up with a separate SPF cream. It just ruins my skin whatever brand I use.

Buggery bollocks to M&S and their 20% online. I only went and treated myself to the REN clay cleanser and the serum today in a freaking store.

Damn. I can't remember when I was last that extravagant.

Anyhow, also got the Nip and Fab pads and the clearasil pads (to ring changes) and the superdrug hot cloth thingy so am good to go I think.

This thread has been fascinating, thanks everyone and Caroline herself. I am generally a frumpy sort but it is nice to have glowing skin if possible I think.

I feel slightly at the amount of money people have parted with since I started this. But on the other hand I am really excited for all of you who starting out on the CH transform your face journey.
I am also really grateful to CH herself for popping in and cheering us on!

I'd like to use some of the glycolic acid stuff people rave about, but I am putting RetinA on every night. I used to use the Olay Regenerist night serum, which was a lower glycolic acid serum and I really liked it. But now it doesn't fit into my routine.

I do use the Boots Time Delay skin brightening toner in the morning, though.

My skin is generally looking pretty great, although it takes a lot of Nivea to combat the dry flakiness that sometimes occurs. That's been settling down.

I've ordered cetaphil but am unsure about retinoids or what to buy! Any advice welcome! I'm contemplating skinceuticals

I've got some epiduo in a drawer that gp prescribed yonks ago but I think I overused it. Red face :( I didn't give anything a go without being ott. I'm realising moderation is key!

Well since double cleansing etc. My face and neck are three times whiter.
I swear it's all the exfoliation from the flannel, it wasn't grubby before. Honestly I did wash I just didn't do anything else

I think REN changed the Clarimatte toner and it's no longer in Caroline's top 10.

I have a question if the experts on this thread can help...

I started CH at the beginning of March, so coming up two months. I've seen a MASSIVE difference in my skin and am incredibly pleased , but I'm still getting the odd spot appearing. I have had two big/cystic ones under the skin on my left cheek that are taking ages to clear, plus a couple of random odd red pimples. I have a new one this morning.

Is there anything I can do/use to reduce these? Or d'you think it's still early days and my skin will settle over the next month or so?

If it helps, routine is:

AM:
Hot cloth cleanse with Botanics milk cleanser
REN Clarimatte
Olay Luminous serum
Sometimes Vichy Aqualia if needed
Botanics BB Cream with SPF 30 (love this btw - highly recommended!)

PM:
Botanics make up remover
Double hot cloth cleanse with oil based cleanser and milk cleanser
Nip & Fab glycolic pads
Olay serum and sometimes Vichy serum
Night treatment (Either facial oil, drops of youth mask or elemis marine cream depending on what I fancy)

I also started using Liquid Gold last week for every third night.

I'm 33 with normal skin, just interested in minimising spots, reducing the red scars from previous spots and stopping my fine lines from getting worse!

TIA Mumsnet gurus

I think Caroline said that the REN toner had had the proper acid taken out and replaced with pineapple extract

Merrykat - have you been back to the doctor to ask about other topical creams instead of antibiotics? Or the contraceptive pill? (dianette used to be the one but sure there are others now...). Retinoids... No idea! I was thinking of getting the Indeed Labs one.

I can't see the lists on her website of recommended products - are there lists? I have read through some of the posts, but it would be really useful to have a list (actually I think there is a top 10 toners list somewhere) of products.

e.g. which products do have high amounts of glycolic acid? (I think that's what I need, not salcylic, but I'm not sure!).

I've got the Emma Hardie face balm stuff (like it) and the pixi glow toner so far. I already had some dermalogica, la roche posey and avene stuff which I need to use up (and I'm broke until payday now). But I need to get different toner, cleanser and glycolic stuff I think.

It would be good to have a list.

(and also recommendations for brown splodges please!).

I haven't shirking. He was a bit dismissive of "a few spots" which put me off! I also had a dvt years ago so don't think I can have dianette. I'm a bloody pain I tell you!

Cremedesudo I think what you are missing is a Retinol product - anti-spot, anti-ageing, help get rid of those old spot red marks quicker.

You have the double cleansing and the acid toners and the SPF, retinol would be the final bit. You are also over cleansing in the evening as you are acutally triple cleansing with makeup remover and then 2 cleanses, I'd leave one off.

What about LRP Redermic, Avene Ystheal or Skinceuticals Retinol (if you budget stretches to Skinceuticals, mine definitely doesn't!)

HenriettaBarnet if your issue is blackheads you need salicylic, if not then glycolic/lactic. CH recommends you mix your acids up but if there are blackheads you will def want salicylic in there.

TheBlackRider you can also have a look at Sunsense Daily Face. It's oil free and contains niacinamide which helps with acne, I had no trouble from it. I used the SPF 50 but found it v light, not sure if there is a lower SPF but being mega pale SPF 50 suited me.

Try a different doctor Merrykat! Most should be very sympathetic about adult acne. Yes, you're probably right about the contraceptive pill. Shame! I had it quite badly once when I was 36, very weirdly as my skin doesn't normally do that, and some cream for a couple of months sorted it out totally. Never had it again (or before then). Odd!